Dance Palace Community Center
The Dance Palace is a mutipurpose nonprofit community center that provides a wide variety of educational, recreational, and cultural community services for people of all ages and backgrounds in West Marin with a focus on improving the quality of life and responding to the changing needs of the community.
Description:
The Dance Palace serves as the central community facility for the semi-rural coastal villages of West Marin including Point Reyes Station, Inverness, Olema, Nicasio, Marshall, and Bolinas.
A fundamentally multi-purpose organization responding directly to community needs, the Dance Palace serves over 2,500 people per month with programs including a senior luncheon, summer day camp, teen activities, weekly classes for all ages,afterschool programs for children, and an English as a Second Language program. The Dance Palace serves as a unique model of a community center providing a highly multi-faceted program on a small budget through the ongoing participation of committed volunteers.
History:
Originally founded in 1971 as a studio for dance, in an historical building referred to locally as the "Old Palace", the Dance Palace serves as a unique model of a community center providing a highly multi-faceted program on a small budget through the ongoing participation of committed volunteers. Dance Palace Camp and our teen summer theater group, Dance Palace Summer Stock Players, were founded in 1980. The Counselor-in-Training Program, a job training program for young adults, was initiated in 1993. In fall 1989, the Dance Palace moved into a beautiful new facility built and paid for through community labor of over 1500 hours and contributions of more than $750,000 (including $400,000 in individual donations). Final construction on the building was completed in spring 1991. With the move to the new facility, community use and participation increased by 50%. In 1992, the Dance Palace purchased a concert grand piano, and initiated an ongoing series of quality classical and jazz concerts in West Marin. In fall 1994 and 1995, the Dance Palace was one of six Marin agencies chosen to receive targeted funds from PG&E's corporate gift to United Way. Grants from Fireman's Fund Foundation and Cultural Facilities Fund provided funding for purchase of a theater lighting system, professional sound system, and LCD video projector. During the Mount Vision Fire in October 1995, the Dance Palace became a central gathering and meeting place for the community and for fire victims. The space was used as an emergency medical clinic, an office for the Fire Department, an information center, and for numerous community meetings and workshops presenting information and providing assistance to people. In 1996, the Dance Palace celebrated its 25th anniversary with a retrospective exhibit at the Jack Mason Museum in Inverness, a big community party, and the burial of a time capsule to be dug up at our 50th anniversary. In 1999, the Dance Palace was the center for several months of intensive meetings to discuss affordable housing in West Marin, and appointed a member of the advisory council. In 2000, the Dance Palace served as a Questionnaire Assistance Center and supervising agency in promoting a more complete and accurate census county in West Marin. The Dance Palace celebrated its 35th anniversary in October 2006.
Contact people:
Main office number:
(415) 663-1075Office fax number: (415) 663-1475
Address:
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Corner of 5th and B streetsPoint Reyes Station, CA 94956(See a map) |
Web Site: http://www.dancepalace.org
| Last updated on July 13, 2009 |
